The insurance policy had been taken out by Tailwind Sports, owner of the US Postal team, to cover performance bonuses payable to Armstrong if he claimed his fourth, fifth and sixth Tour victories.

Armstrong took the company to an arbitration hearing in Dallas in 2005 and won, because the contract between the parties stipulated the insurance money would be payable if Armstrong was the "official winner" of the Tour.

Lance Armstrong celebrates winning his sixth Tour de France title in 2004

But now, after Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey using banned performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de France victories, SCA are seeking the return of the money.

"We will likely file that lawsuit as soon as next week unless we get a satisfactory response from Armstrong's camp," SCA lawyer Jeff Tillotson said.

"Lance Armstrong neither has the legal right, nor frankly the moral right to keep those funds."

The sum of $12 million (£7.5 million/€9 million) includes the return of the bonuses plus legal costs and interest.

"As you can imagine, we paid him $12 million for being the official winner of three Tour de France races and swearing under oath he was a clean rider during those races," Tillotson told BBC 5live's BeSpoke programme.

"He's now told us, at least though Oprah, that he lied when he told us he was a clean rider.

"He doped during all those races, and USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) and UCI (Internatonal Cycling Union) have stripped him of his official title status.

"So under those circumstances my client naturally wants his money back."

Armstrong was shown during the interview with Winfrey appearing at the arbitration hearing denying that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. 

SCA Promotions were forced to pay Armstrong a $5 million bonus after he denied allegations during a hearing that he had used drugs during his victory at the Tour de France in 2004

"Every question in his testimony that he answered no to when I asked him, he answered yes to Oprah Winfrey," said Tillotson.

"So it was pretty clear from the first few minutes of the interview he was admitting that he had committed perjury in our legal proceedings in the US.

"From our perspective we were somewhat floored by how quickly he admitted that."

Arrmstrong is already being sued by The Sunday Times for £1 million ($1.6 million/€1.2 million) after he successfully won a libel action against them nine years ago following an article written by David Walsh, arguably his biggest critic. 

Contact the writer of this story at duncan.mackay@insidethegames.biz


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